"She is a transitional species showing characteristics from both the non-human (prosimians and lemurs) and human (anthropoids, monkeys, apes and man) evolutionary lines," said the producers in a statement reviewed by the authors of the PLoS One paper.

The first primates may have evolved during the last part of the Paleocene Epoch. These were members of the genus Altiatlasius. Their bones have been found in 60,000,000 year old geological deposits in Morocco, but they probably lived in other areas at this time as well. They looked different from the primates today. They were still somewhat squirrel-like in size and appearance, but apparently they had grasping hands and feet that were increasingly more efficient in manipulating objects and climbing trees. It is likely that they were developing effective stereoscopic vision.

The beginning of the Eocene Epoch coincides with the appearance of early forms of most of the placental mammal orders that are present today. Among them were primate species that somewhat resemble modern prosimians such as lemurs, lorises, and possibly tarsiers. This was the epoch of maximum prosimian adaptive radiation. There were at least 60 genera of them that were mostly in two families--the Adapidae (similar to lemurs and lorises) and the Omomyidae (possibly like galagos and tarsiers). This is nearly four times greater prosimian diversity than today. Eocene prosimians lived in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. It was during this epoch that they reached the island of Madagascar. The great diversity of Eocene prosimians was probably a consequence of the fact that they did not have competition from monkeys and apes since these latter more advanced primates had not yet evolved.

Major evolutionary changes were beginning in some of the Eocene prosimians that foreshadow species yet to come. Their brains and eyes were becoming larger, while their snouts were getting smaller. At the base of a skull, there is a hole through which the spinal cord passes. This opening is the foramen magnum (literally the "large hole or opening" in Latin). The position of the foramen magnum is a strong indicator of the angle of the spinal column to the head and subsequently whether the body is habitually horizontal (like a horse) or vertical (like a monkey). During the Eocene, the foramen magnum in some primate species was beginning to move from the back of the skull towards the center. This suggests that they were beginning to hold their bodies erect while hopping and sitting, like modern lemurs, galagos, and tarsiers.

http://anthro.palomar.edu/earlyprimates/first_primates.htm

Origin of the Specious

Ida the fossil was hailed as the ‘missing link’ in our evolution. Don’t believe the hype


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The claims were marred only by Attenborough’s choice of an evocative phrase with a rather dodgy history. Last century the term “missing link” became tainted by its association with the “discovery” in 1912 of Piltdown Man. This fossil of an apparent early human fooled scientists for 40 years before tests revealed it as a hoax.

Ida appears not to be a hoax - but could she be hype?

Attenborough acted in good faith but he was just one element of the media circus turning Ida into humanity’s newest and best link with its ancient past.

Such finds are usually unveiled to the world through the sober pages of an academic journal but for Ida nothing less than a glittering press conference at the American Museum of Natural History in New York would do.


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The excitement spread fast. One newspaper said Ida could “revolutionise how we see human evolution”. Even geeky Google was impressed, adding an impression of the fossil to the front page of its website. Many scientists, however, were shocked. They revere understatement, knowing how easily allegations of hype can damage careers. What is more, in the research paper detailing the discovery, the scientists had painted a rather different picture. Ida, they said, “could represent a stem group from which later anthropoid primates (including humans) evolved but we are not advocating this here”.



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“First, the paper is shoddy scholarship because it avoids comparing Darwinius masillae with similar fossils to put it into a proper context. The roll-out was extraordinary and it is now clear that the scientists were under pressure to meet the showbusiness deadlines. The tail was wagging the dog– or maybe the lemur.”

Simons does not buy the spin either. “It’s absurd and dangerous,” he said. “This is all bad science and it plays into the hands of the creationists, who look for any excuse to discredit evolution.


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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6350095.ece